Aviam Soifer, professor and former dean at Boston College Law School, is the front-runner among four candidates to be the next dean of the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law.

Soifer is expected to be named to the position shortly but needs confirmation by the UH Board of Regents. The regents could act on an appointment as early as today.

Soifer graduated from Yale Law School and also received a master's degree in urban studies and a bachelor's degree in American Studies, cum laude, from Yale College.

He would succeed Lawrence C. Foster, who led the law school for 15 years before resigning as dean last year to return to teaching. Foster specializes in law reform issues in Asia and the Pacific.

Foster presided over rapid growth of the law school but also years of difficulties through the 1990s when the school was threatened with closure. Under his tutelage applications have risen by more than 50 percent since 1997, and the school was ranked as a Top Tier law institution in U.S. News & World Report's 1998 listings. The school's moot court teams have repeatedly won honors in national competitions, and 13 new endowments in the past few years have raised $4.5 million for the school.

The search for a dean has taken more than a year and was conducted by a broad-based community and campus group that included attorneys, professors, and community leaders. Chairperson was Beadie Kanahele Dawson, chair of Friends of the Law School board.